Old Falls police station transformed for TV series
Wooden planks and dirt brought in to recapture early 1900s look
Two years ago, Alex Makrygiannis was passing through downtown Niagara Falls when the old police station on Zimmerman Avenue caught his eye.
“I drove by there and I saw that building and I thought, ‘I’m going to use that in a movie some day.’”
This week, he’s using it in a movie.
Since July 4, Zimmerman between Park and Bridge streets, has been blocked to traffic while crews transform the area to resemble a neighbourhood from the early 1900s.
It’s not a stretch to imagine it looking that way.
The old cop shop — built in
1885 but empty now for decades — and surrounding properties are all stone construction and date back more than 100 years.
In preparation for filming of the TV series “Streets of Yesterday,” Makrygiannis and the other workers have covered the police station’s boarded-up windows with faux 19th-century covers.
They’re also masking the sidewalk with old-style plank wood and will cover the roadway with dirt to give it that historic look.
“It’s going to look period, early 1900s,” said Makrygiannis, the assistant location manager working for Second Bedford Productions.
Lisa Ghione, a spokeswoman for the production, was unable to provide more details on the series Monday.
Production studios use people like Makrygiannis to find in-
teresting, photogenic sites that can be adapted with a historic theme. There’s also a digital photo library of neighbourhoods, run by the provincial government, that studios can use to scout sites.
Ironically, although Makrygiannis had mentally filed the Zimmerman Avenue site away as a potential future movie location, it was another scout who selected it for the shoot.
Makrygiannis expects the crew of about 25 to keep working another week or so.
Shooting starts in mid-July and the entire Niagara Falls production is due to wrap up July 23.